This invention relates generally to gloves, and more particularly to knitted gloves having plural zones or patches of a wear resistant flexible material affixed thereto to provide good resistance to wear, while not interfering with the free flexing of the fingers and hand of the wearer.
Various types of seamless knitted gloves formed of conventional materials, such as cotton, poly-cotton, or KEVLAR.RTM., are commercially available for use by workers, either as a primary glove or as a liner for an outer glove, to provide some measure of protection from injury and some cushioning for the hand of workers. While such seamless, knitted gloves or liners provide a good, comfortable fit, their open weave or knit construction renders them susceptible to abrasion. Accordingly, it is a common practice to include coatings of a flexible, wear-resistant material, e.g., polyvinyl chloride, applied thereon to provide some measure of wear resistance. Those coatings have either been applied entirely over the glove, or in random block patterns or stripes or small dots. All of the patterns utilized heretofore for wear-protective coatings exhibit one or more drawbacks. For example, a solid coating over the entire glove or over its entire palmar surface buckles when the hand is flexed, causing creasing of the coating and wearer discomfort. So too, stripes extending the entire length of the glove tend to buckle when the glove is flexed. While small dots, blocks or patches may eliminate or reduce the buckling problem, they nevertheless exhibit a tendency to peel off Moreover, such small dots or patches provide a limited wear-resistant surface.
Other materials, such as leather, rubber, vinyl, etc., have been used for work gloves, and some of such gloves have included pads or other portions to increase comfort and/or provide some cushioning or protection.
For example U.S. Pat. No. 4,748,690 (Webster) discloses a leather glove having springy pads or cushions 16, 18, 20, 22, 24, 26, 28, and 30 which are located on the palmar side and spaced from each other along the hand's normal crease lines (See FIGS. 4 and 5). These pads are provided to provide cushioning to the wearer of the glove.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,663,784 (Ash) discloses a knitted or woven elastic material hand glove. The glove also includes two palm pieces comprised of generally non-elastic material, e.g., leather or vinyl laminated onto a backing material. The palm pieces are sewn along their peripheries to the elastic material of the glove. The palm pieces are fashioned such that one piece, generally triangular, is attached to form closely spaced, side-by-side stretch lines with the first palm part so that the glove material can stretch and deform in a palm area independently of the palm parts.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,581,809 (Mah) discloses a protective glove which also has pads on the palmar side which are separated from one another along the hand's normal crease lines (See FIG. 2).
Other United States patents relating to gloves having patches or pads on them are as follows: U.S. Pat. No. 3,597,765 (Stanton), U.S. Pat. No. 4,042,975 (Elliott Jr. et al.), U.S. Pat. No. 4,691,387 (Lopez), and U.S. Pat. No. 5,218,719 (Johnson).
While the prior art gloves may be generally suitable for their intended purpose they still leave much to be desired from the standpoint of resistance to wear, comfort, etc. A need thus exists for flexible, wear resistant knitted glove.